What do you need for an excellent finance function?
In recent years, there have been many initiatives to improve performance in the finance function. Through the years many organizations have undertaken numerous finance initiatives, shared services, performance management, and fast-close to name just a few, with mixed results.
At BearingPoint we believe that two flaws often lead to the failure of these initiatives; they often fail to take an end-to-end approach and they are initiated and pushed top-down. In this paper, we explain how a lean management approach takes these two elements into account to ensure the achievement of long term improvement.
Waste, activities and processes in an organization that do not add value for the customer, are present throughout organizations. Ranging from reports that are produced but not used and rework that is required, to idle time in several departments. An organization’s finance function is no different. The waste in the finance function has a significant impact on organizations. A recent benchmark by the APQC institute shows major differences between month-end closing processes, accounts payable, account receivable and other measures both in costs and in people involved. In the current business environment, eliminating wastage is important to stay competitive. With increased global competition and economic pressures, organizations realize that they need to perform among the best in all business functions.
One approach that has proven effective at eliminating waste and helping organizations to structurally and continuously improve is Lean management.
For more information you can always contact me via klaasjan.doeswijk@bearingpoint.com
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